05/07/2014

Yesterday and the day before, Prince Charming and I got very messy, very hot, very tired, and kind of sore transferring the contents of these paint cans...

...to the back side of our two-story house in the Oklahoma wind and unseasonably high temperatures.

So, today we decided to take a break from that (really big) job and concentrate on getting ready for weekend festivities (Miss Helping Hands is receiving her master's degree) and the house guests we'll be having for them.

We moved Phoebe out of the guest room (sorry, Pheebs)...

...so we could dust and vacuum and put fresh sheets on the bed.

I cleaned the guest bathroom and laid out some fresh linens.

Everything is now ready.

But, let's go back and get a little close-up on part of that bathroom, shall we?

Usually, when I'm preparing the guest bathroom, I just give the toilet paper this nice little fold:

But, I've been working really, really, hard and getting really, really hot and messy and I was starting to get really, really grouchy from not doing anything creative.

05/02/2014

Early this morning, after a too-long hiatus, I wrote my 'morning pages' (as prescribed in "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron).

I wadded up and threw away the pages when I was finished, as I had not written them in a private notebook and they are not even meant for the kind of rereading a personal journal might merit.

But the wildly varying and random thoughts which were scribbled in my stream-of-consciousness writing this morning, included some which revealed discouragement about the ratio of 'years travelled' to 'distance travelled' in my walk with God.

I wrote down the thoughts which followed those, too, and they were all about the conversion of C.S. Lewis and how, afterward, his life and work were so completely devoted to Christ and to spreading the gospel.

Of course, the next thoughts to hit the page were about how abyssmal my own scrawny devotion is and how seriously my life and work are lacking in fruitfulness.

Do you see why it is a difficult discipline to do the morning pages?

Later in the morning, feeling the need of extra heart-help as I prepared to do my Bible study lesson, I grabbed a devotional book that I read only occasionally.

Here is a portion of what I read in the May 2nd entry of "Daily with my Lord" by W. Glynn Evans.

"This also means that I must forget comparison with others. Comparison means we are at the same point, on the same level. But no two children of God are ever at precisely the same point or on the same level. I must not, therefore, compare myself to David Brainerd, Henry Martyn, or Jim Elliot. I must only ask God if He is satisfied with my progress at a given moment, If He is, all is well, even though flaws and specks appear in my makeup."

I broke into tears when I read that.

All that I had 'dumped' in my morning pages came flooding back to me, and I heard God say (again!), " You do not, but I feel kindly toward you, Naomi."

So, I'm thinking a lot about discipline and discipleship.

If I hadn't shown up for morning pages (which is a discipline for my creative life), would I have been conscious of those discouraging thoughts?

If I hadn't shown up for His touch through His word, would I have gotten His light on those thoughts?

And yet, it's still hard to show up.

It's hard to show up to create; to write, to draw...

...to play or write music.

It's hard to show up to spend time with God; to listen, to read, to pray, to study.

There is resistance.

But there is Someone who feels kindly towards us, and when we show up...

04/09/2014

It was so meaningful to me, on such a deep level, that I am finding it impossible to write about it.

You can watch a trailer of the documentary on the (beautiful) life and work of keynote speaker, artist Mako Fujimura, here.

You can read some of the essays written by break-out session speakers Margaret Manning and Jill Carattini here, including the one that prompted our trip to the conference.

I keep trying to form words to tell what being part of this deep conversation meant to me, but I can't do it; suffice to say it was a tremendous privilege and is still impacting my everyday life.

Of course, because I never want to miss capturing any visual images which might aid my memory, or your understanding, I took my camera with me.

During one break-out session, when the speaker asked how many people in the room were artists, there was almost a 100% show of hands; yet this was a conference about ideas and, in the end, I took exactly one photograph.

In the ladies bathroom.

I was so tickled and pleased that someone, whose work is the rather mundane business of manufacturing and selling public bathroom stall doors, had enough fun in their heart to put this kind of stamp their product:

04/05/2014

About a month ago, Prince Charming came into possession of his late uncle's bowling ball.

Yesterday, St. Julie (my sister-in-law) and I came into possession of a bunch of used washers when she purchased some metal cabinets at a garage sale.

Last night, the two things came together with four rolls of nickels, a tube of E6000, the remaining candlestick of a pair that had formerly been part of our house decor, and a long-held desire to make something I'd seen somewhere (I'm sorry I can't find the source to credit it).

I'm glad I didn't make this until Uncle Mason's bowling ball came our way and St. Julie and I happened upon the washers when we were together.

Now, instead of what could have been just a funky little something that I took my art out on, I have memories in the form of...of...of...a funky little something that I took my art out on.

Not sure where it will finally come to abide, and I still hope to stumble on a more perfect stand, but for now I will leave it be while St. Julie and I...

03/27/2014

I'm still trying to get used to being out of the work force, not having somewhere I'm expected to be every morning, etc.

It's been quite a challenge to me, this current season of my life.

I'm finding my prayers every morning include at least one plea that I will not "lean on my own understanding" (which I often translate as 'living in my mind'), and another that I will be directed by the Holy Spirit into His plans for my day.

Today, those plans include boxing up a little flock of paper birds to send to another of His friends who is walking through a valley right now.

As I reached for a sheet of engineering plans to wrap the box, I heard a whisper, and immediately knew that I needed to wrap the box with the drawings to the outside, rather than the inside.

God wanted to remind me and my friend of something.

We have hope and a future.

Things sometimes get a little bleak in the here-and-now, but because of Jesus, the brightest future possible is our guarantee.

03/24/2014

Today I baked cookies for Me Darlin' Mither and the many people who are currently coming and going from her home and helping during her recovery.

I ate one.

It was awfully good.

I made the oatmeal-raisin cookies Me Darlin' Mither had requested, but I added another ingredient which I know she is crazy about and it kinda took the cookies to a dangerously yummy place.

Toffee chips.

Specifically, Heath Chips.

Here is the recipe I used:

Oatmeal Raisin Toffee Cookies

Soak in warm water:

1/2-3/4 cup raisins

Beat until creamy:

1 1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

Then add and beat:

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together the following and add to mixture:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Then add and mix:

raisins, drained of water

3 cups oats

1 bag of Heath or other toffee chips

Form into 1"-2" balls and flatten slightly with your hand. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes for chewy cookies (you want them this way, trust me) or 10-12 minutes for crunchy cookies (just say no). Let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to cooling rack.

Now, I trust you remember (from my previous post about the awesome peanut butter cookies) the trick to making all cookies become low or zero calorie cookies?

I wasn't actually planning to have a bird hatchery this spring, but one day last week, as I was browsing in the eye-candy store called The Paper Crown, I spied a small pad of paper and thought I heard it chirping as I walked by.

So, I brought it home, got out the scissors and glue, and now maybe we can fill this perilously-close-to-empty jar.

It's the jar that visitors to my studio use to fill their take-home bags.

03/11/2014

I just finished up another eight hour day on that big painting job I mentioned in my last post.

Looks like we're closing in on the finish line of Phase 1 and soon I may be able to share some pictures of what we've been through.

Today I used several plastic grocery sacks as paint-tray liners, so I thought I'd share with you the most recent system I'm using to keep the sacks orderly until I need them (to line small trash cans, paint trays, etc).

Several years ago, one of our 'adopted' shoots showed me how his (real) mom folded them for storage, which I thought was genius and implemented immediately.

I liked the simple half-knot solution because it made it easy to grab just one bag and they took up less room than when left unfolded/tied.

Last week I stumbled across a fold I like even better (you can watch the how-to here, although, believe me, I am not that particular when I fold mine).

Now the bags take up even less space.

That is nice for storage reasons, but it's also great because I like to put several extra bags underneath the ones I'm using to line small wastebaskets; that way I'll have a new liner handy whenever one gets full.

You, Dear Readers, may be way ahead of me on this one, and it's quite possible you don't even care about such a small thing.

I, however, like to get as many small things as possible in order, so I'll have time and space for the big things.

When I made mine, I flattened them a bit with the classic fork crisscross and then sprinkled some coarse salt on them before baking.

Able Baker Dana says it took them "over the top".

However, what took them over the top for me, was finding a way to make them non-fattening without altering the recipe one bit!

You simply enjoy one and then...

... make some taped shut take-home packs for the grandshoots, to keep them from howling when it's time to leave Pretty and Poppa's (I'm sorry, but I secretly love that they want to cry when they have to leave).

Then use the rest to make tied-shut give-away packages for whatever people happen to be part of your life for the next few days.

Today has been a beeeeautiful spring-like day, and I took advantage of the weather by spending hours scalping the front lawn, cleaning up flower beds, and cutting back some herbs and decorative grasses.

Also, Prince Charming sent some lawn-care guys by to take a look at our 'weed situation' and give us a quote for spraying.

Three guys in a big truck pulled up, measured up our lawns, spoke kindly to me, and said they'd be back to spray on Wednesday.

03/07/2014

Thinking about the lovely Valentine progressive dinner we had, with poetry and other romantic readings, and with fun appetizers served here...

.

.. followed by a delicious entree and dessert served elsewhere.

I'm thinking about the little impromptu Valentine's lunch with some of the grandshoots...

...and the just plain love-them-to-pieces days with other grandshoots.

I'm thinking about the many jigsaw puzzles which have been put together over the (LONG) winter months...

...and some of the really good recipes I've discovered lately (more later).

But, mostly, I'm thinking about paint.

Lots and lots of paint and painting has been in my life over the last two months.

I finally started working on the room Prince Charming plans to use as a recording studio.

I was pretty happy that the big drop cloth covered the floor from wall-to-wall in one direction and was only a foot shy of doing so in the other direction.

However, because of the truly amazing amount of painting I have done over the course of the last 35 years, I am extremely skilled at it now and I was able to knock the loaded paint tray off the top of the ladder in such a way that it dumped a significant amount of paint onto that one foot of unprotected carpet. (Don't try this at home, kids; I am a skilled professional with years of experience in this line of work.)

11/23/2013

I'm looking at the camera roll this evening and the snapshots of life around here during the last couple of months.

Of course, I spent a great deal of my time during the last couple of months up on the roof, up on the ladder, and up to my neck in house paint, so looking at the photos of more pleasant things which were squinched in there is kind of nice.

First up, an apron made from one of Prince Charming's old shirts which was sent to the Little Girl Who Moved Too Far Away.

Our model, Miss Helping Hands, had a nasty bit of sunburn from a her day at the OSU game.

Our recipient, Miss Mary Mack, opened the package and burst into tears.

Aw.

-------

Here is something that gave us a good laugh one afternoon when we opened our mailbox.

It yielded two catalogs.

This one addressed to Prince Charming:

And this one addressed to me:

Does that seem odd to anyone else?

-------

The morning glories were glorious in October, and even during most of November.

Alas, they are but a memory now.

-------

A couple of weeks ago, I got a text message from the Little Girl Who Moved Too Far Away, saying that she had been reading my blog and just realized how much she missed my all "little paper birds and beads and things".

She had her birthday this week.

I sent her a little bit of home.

I hope it helps.

-------

I had a play date with Goomba this month.

It's nice to date such a looker.

Man, I love this guy.

-------

When Able Baker Dana and I came home with our fall leaves for waxing, I noticed as I passed the monkey grass on the way in that it was sporting stalks of black berries.

I brought them in and waxed them, too, and the other day when I was messing around with centerpieces for the Thanksgiving tables, I added some of them to the candlesticks.

It's going to be a centerpiece made mostly of things I've found 'out there'.

But it's going to be on a table surrounded by people I love.

------

And, last but not least, the photo Miss Helping Hands had me take today.

I had this item on the to-do list today: "Clean out the hidey-hole and replace the paper roll".

About every third visit from the grandshoots, I go in there to put everything in order and sweep up any little bits of paper, stickers or chalk.

Today Miss Helping Hands offered to do it, opened the door, and said, "Well. The hidey hole sure looks interesting."

11/20/2013

I'm about to show you my fanciest kitchen gadget, a fabulously executed dessert, and some photos of my preparations for Thanksgiving.

You've been warned.

If you stumble, I will not be held accountable.

You're still here?

Okay.

I'm glad you're up to it.

Here I go.

It's about to be too late to turn back.

Ready?

Yesterday, I spent the better part of the day cleaning out and cleaning up the "annex refrigerator" and the pantry for the massive inflow of food that is about to happen.

Don't be jealous.

I know that not everyone gets to do this:

Also yesterday, our guest list had two more names added to it, so we're up to a whopping 25 eaters expected for Thanksgiving dinner.

You can guess it was a bit of a blow when the doctor called to tell me he had scheduled my outpatient procedure (think long needle!) for smack in the middle of the day before Thanksgiving; known around here as "Covered-in-Flour Day".

I've had to do a little re-grouping this week, and put a lot more things on the do-ahead list.

Today, I had to make a pie for Chince Prarming to take to the office tomorrow, so I decided to make seven extra pie crusts and put them in the freezer; something I've never done before.

It meant Covered-in-Flour Day was early this year.

Of course, getting out all these supplies...

...wouldn't do me much good if I didn't also get out my recipes.

And if I get out my recipes, that means I get to get out my very fancy recipe holder.

I'm going to show it to you now, if you promise you that really do have that envy monster under control.

You promise?

Okay.

Tada!

(Hmmm. "Lg" hanger. Must belong to the girls.)

You want one, don't you?

It gets the job done, and that really is a rockin' pie crust recipe it's holding (it was voted top crust on the family apple pie taste testing day).

Of course, the first crust I made went into the oven to be baked for the Prince's pie.

While it burned baked, I made the others and just popped them into the freezer for Covered-in-Flour Day, Condensed Version.

See this beautiful crust?

It's the other half of this burnt crust:

Dang.

I'm hoping the fact that I filled it with Pioneer Woman's French Silk Pie filling, and that there will be whipped cream to go on top, will make the eaters fuhgeddabout that burnt stuff.

11/03/2013

It's never been my wont to put much energy into adorning the exterior of my architecturally displeasing two-story home.

But, lately, the architecturally displeasing exterior of my home has commanded a great deal of my time and energy as the Prince and I spend ourselves repairing, re-painting and re-thinking it.

So, when the Prince returned to work after our recent 100 hour work week, and I returned to a more 'normal' schedule, my mind was still back-burner turning on how to beautify the place

On Friday, when I had the pleasure of taking a talk-and-walk through the neighborhoold with an old friend, we passed this beautiful pine tree someone had just cut down and placed at the curb for 'big junk pick up day'.

I say 'passed', but we actually stopped to harvest some really beautiful pinecones from this tree.

They were very 'pickery' and we had to handle them carefully to keep our fingers from getting punctured.

By the time we got back to the house, we had talked ourselves into making fall wreaths for our front doors.

Our newly-black front door looks much more inviting with it's new adornment.

Does it look like the typical fall wreath to you?

I wish you could see what I see.

It's actually a wreath made of memories.

The big, 'pickery' pinecones remind me of the lovely stroll I had with my friend on a beautiful fall day.

The small, slender pinecones remind me of another thoughtful friend who, recalling my penchant for making pinecone elves, picked these up in Colorado for me last year.

The small 'ordinary' pinecones remind of the time spent with my daughter, two fall's ago, searching for pinecones to use in the Christmas centerpiece.

The large pinecone brings back a walk I took on the mean streets and the wonderful surprise it was to cross a patch of grass with a lone fir in the middle and find it had dropped a gift just for me.

(The 'silk' leaves remind me that I really hate artificial flowers, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get a little color in her wreath.)

I think it's just a wonderful thing that this simple wreath can bring such a powerful bunch of pleasant memories to my mind.

10/15/2013

So....when things happen in my life which cement the truth that there is blessing in community, I like to take careful note and help myself along the road to emotional health.

See this quilt block?

It's a stepping stone along that road.

It's not very pretty.

And it has a lot of not-very-pretty friends.

They were all pieced from scraps (circa 1950), and were dear to me for one reason only.

Prince Charming's grandmother left behind four or five quilts-worth of blocks, and when his aunts discovered that I was a quilter (I cannnot be responsible for their faulty assessment of my skill set), Grandma's quilt blocks were given into my keeping.

Her hand stitches are incredibly precise and she obviously used every scrap of fabric she had.

I was impressed and amazed by the caliber and amount of work she did, but I did not like a single one of the blocks.

Until.

Until I exposed them to the quilting 'community'.

First, a small group of quilting friends suggested putting them together on the design wall and stepping back to get a new perspective.

Even the ugly quilt blocks looked better in community.

Suddenly, they were worth stiching into a quilt top.

Next, thanks to Weekly Sewing Day, the top came out of the UFO (unfinished objects) Box and went to the quilt store for help with a border.

The community of quilters there admired Grandma's work in a way that trebled my appreciation and esteem.

Then they found the perfect border fabric, gave me advice on how to make sure the back of the quilt included its provenance (so it would also be valued by those coming after us), and gave me some fabulous suggestions on how to hand-quilt it.

Being part of a community gave me this...

...in exchange for a pile of ugly quilt blocks.

I will be thinking about that while I am hand quilting this striking hand-me-down heirloom this winter.

And I will think of it again each time I pull it out for the grandshoots to snuggle under during sleepovers at Pretty and Poppa's house.

08/30/2013

Now that there is Sewing Day in my weekly life (hurrah!), I've actually been feeling a bit excited about two things that used to make me feel...well...hmmm...let's just say "uneasy".

I'm excited about emptying out my Unfinished Sewing Projects bin and I am excited about doing some stash-busting.

Some of the fabric in my fat-quarter-or-larger storage area dates back to when my (now twenty-something) daughters were just pudgy little toddlers (sigh).

It makes me happy to take some of those pieces of fabric off the 'bolts' (comic book backer boards = best fabric storage idea ever) and use it up.

Of course, sometimes it just turns into the size of scrap that gets moved to the smaller-than-fat-quarter storage bin (dolly clothes and other lovely things get made from this basket).

And then I get to throw the scraps away.

Not.

Some of the scraps are still big enough to make those pincushion rings I posted about here.

After making, say, forty or so of those pinscushions, the fabric stash is really busted.

Now we get to throw the scraps away.

Not.

Now we make lots of little 'flags' from the scraps.

And we use them to make as many zippered pouches as we can get done in a Sewing Day.

Then you know what happens?

You don't just throw the leftover flags away, because now you have a whole tray (Dollar Store cookie sheets for project trays is a good thing) full of leftover flags because you almost always get carried away by these things and begin to do things in full-on robot mode and don't stop for, like, ever, and you keep cutting little flags like the world depends on there being just hundreds and hundreds of little flags in it and you're the only one who can make them and...

You get the picture.

I never said I was a well-balanced person.

And now I have to find other fun projects to do with fabric flags because I'm running out of zippers and surely there are other wonderful things I can make with these that would help me do even more stash-busting and I could look on Pinterest for ideas and wouldn't a little quilt with bunting going from side to side be kind of nice or perhaps I could make a...

07/15/2013

Dear Diary,
Last Monday I spent my ENTIRE sewing day making a Christmas dress for Ping. I even altered a doll clothes pattern and cut out a matching dress for her doll. Perhaps if I hadn't been wrestling with things that used to be as easy as breathing to me (laying out actual patterns and following sewing instructions), I would have noticed BEFORE it was nearly done that what I was actually working on was an Epic Failure. Yes, Dear Diary, Epic. Failure.
Now, I don't want you to think I'm exaggerating (you know I never, ever, ever, EVER do that). I had witnesses. Even my Beeg Seester couldn't find a way to say it was okay. She suggested removing the collar. I did. It didn't help. I decided to alter the sleeves. Um, no, that didn't save it either. In the end, I decided that the fabric I'd chosen and the pattern I was using just weren't ever going to be on friendly terms. So, when Me Darlin' Mither asked me a few days later what I had finally decided to do with the dress, I said, "I wadded it all up and shoved it in a drawer".
But, now that I've gotten enough space between myself and the experience, I can see that there is no salvation (at my hands) for any of it, and today I am trying to work up the nerve to - gasp! - throw it all away. I'm glad you can't talk, Dear Diary, because you might tell me to at least re-use the fabric. But, Diary, I just can't do that. I am not that strong. Really. I'm not.
In fact, Dear Diary, I've been leaning pretty heavily on these wonderful words from a recent sermon:

I love using mine at the sewing machine when I'm pulling pins from a seam I'm stitching.

There are probably lots of tutorials out there, but here is the way I made mine.

Gather up your supplies.

- Fabric glue

- 3" diameter circle of fabric

- 3" piece of 1/4" elastic

- water bottle cap

- 4" piece of 1/4" or 3/8" ribbon

- circle of felt same size as bottle cap

- small amount of fiberfill

- strong thread

- needle and scissors

Of course, you would actually start by cutting out your 3" fabric circles, so I'll tell you how I did mine.

I found a spool of ribbon that was 3" across...

...layered several scraps of fabric on top of each other and traced around the spool with my 'iron-away' marking pen.

A brief word about this neon color pen: it shows up on dark fabric, which is just so nice.

Here is photo proof (as well as a little visual tip on placing patterns over printed designs):

Use cardstock to make a pattern for your felt circles; just trace around the bottom edge of the bottle cap (it's usually just a bit wider than the top, which is good) .

Then, just hold the pattern on a small square of felt with one hand and cut around it with a small scissors.

Ready for assembly?

Here we go.

Poke the two holes for the elastic directly across from one another using whatever tool you feel safest using.

Glue your felt circle to the bottom.

Poke through the felt at the holes you made in the cap.

Push one end of your elastic through one hole and tie a secure knot close to the end and then repeat with the other end (if you secure one end first, you'll be able to pull the length through which you'll need to tie the knot in the other; then just pull the 'ring' back out).

It will look like this:

Now, use your heavy-duty thread to make a running stitch around the entire edge of your fabric circle.

Pull the threads to gather it just a bit and then fill it with fiberfill.

Now press it down with your finger, put in more fiberfill than you think you can, and pull the thread taut.

Keeping it taut while you knot off the thread is probably the toughest part of the whole project, but when you're done you'll have a ball like this:

Now put some glue in your ring base...

...and shove that ball in there and hang onto it for a minute while you put a little glue around the side of the bottle cap.

Lay your ribbon over the glue, put a dab of glue at the end of the ribbon and press it under, then put a bit more glue under the end and lay it over the raw end of the ribbon.

Here is where some tutorials would call it a day, but I'm not big on leaving fabric solely in the hands of glue so I use regular thread (or leftover pieces of embroidery thread) to stitch the felt to the ribbon...

...and the ribbon to the fabric ball (which means I'll never see a speck of that plastic cap).

And voila! You're all finished.

Now slip it on and use it.

Or.....

Make more.

Make lots more.

Load up a work tray so you can make one every single time you sit still to listen to something or set a spell on the front porch.

If your fabulous trip to Europe broke your back and the doctor says not to do much while he's trying to get it healed, well, make sure you really load up a work tray.

Shall we dissect this work tray?

We have our little 'kits' which haven't been worked yet:

And we have our elastic pieces:

We have our assembled rings which need to be stitched:

And we have our partially-made-but-waiting-for-someone-to-drink-a-bottle-of-water rings:

We have our ready-for-the-bowl rings:

And we have a little pile of teensy felt pieces leftover from cutting the circles; I use them for stuffing.

And last, but not least, we have what The Prince calls "The Nightmare".

I call it Perfection.

It's all the leftover bits of embroidery thread from other projects.

I got tired of trying to keep track of lengths of thread which had been separated into one, two, three (etc) strands.

I started just putting them in a heap and using them like thread on projects like this.

It keeps me from having to get out a bunch of spools of sewing thread.

And it uses up leftovers (you know how I feel about that)!

I have never had a problem extricating the color I need from this pile; it only hurts my eyes to look at it.

02/19/2013

I've been sick. I've been sick for about a hundred years and four days. I'm still sick; but now I'm well enough to lay here with this iPad and tell you all about it.

Don't worry, Dear Diary, I'm not missing work. This is the week I took off work to play with my Seester-in-law. She drove all the way from Arizona to come and play. I hear she is having a good time at my Beeg Seester's house, but she was supposed to stay here.

She would have stayed in our guest room. The one with the en suite I have been working so hard to re-finish for ever-so-long. You know; the bathroom-that-never-ends. I had a lot of trouble with that bathroom, but I kept after it because I was very excited about this visit-I'm-not-currently-having with my Seester-in-law.

In fact, I had just installed the floor trim, and was finishing up the room with some decorative touches when my stomach first began making serious objections to being occupied.

Dear Diary, I have eaten so many Popsicles in the six days and two viruses since then, that I could build a model home using the sticks. And, Diary, I don't mean a model size home; I mean a model home.

I would not put any bathrooms in my model home, though, Diary, and I'll tell you why.

I have laid the floor trim in that guest bathroom IN EVERY, SINGLE, FEVERED AND DELIRIOUS DREAM I have had in the last six loooooong days and nights in this bed.

01/16/2013

At work I collect the copays from our patients and enter them into the computer system. Sometimes they pay with cash, sometimes they write a check, and sometimes they pay with a credit card. When they use a credit card I have to manually enter several pieces of information, along with the payment amount.

Did you know that if you enter a $35.00 payment and forget to move the cursor to a different box before you enter the credit card approval number, you will soon be printing off a receipt for...let's say...maybe... $35,467,933?

And if you don't notice your error immediately, you will just hand the receipt over to the patient with a smile and a thankyouverymuch. And wouldn't that be one lucky patient standing there holding proof that he/she had a pretty sweet credit balance with your clinic?

Now, if you stay on top of things, you'll be manually entering your receipts on a daily spread sheet that's separate from the system tally, and you'll be checking for a nice balance throughout the day. If you're having a really good day, you'll do this in time to notice this massive discrepancy while the patient is still in the waiting room, and you'll be able to call them up to the desk and sweetly ask for the receipt back in exchange for a more, um, accurate one.

If it's a really, really, good day, you'll have a little bit of fun, because the patient will have a lovely sense of humor and be quite playful about the whole thing.

01/15/2013

I was disppointed to find out that although it was plugged into the charger, my phone was dead this morning and, therefore, did not wake me up in time for my workout. I guess it matters that the charger was not plugged into the wall.

When I realized I did not have enough time to work out, but still had more time than I needed to get ready for work, I immediately chucked my frustration and began to anticipate actually sitting down to drink my morning coffee while it was still hot. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" and all that.

On my way to the kitchen to make some fresh coffee, I decided to tidy up the family room, arrange the sofa pillows, and replace the throw over the back of the divan. You know that six-foot, folding craft table which I'd parked behind the sofa recently? The one holding the tray full of little, eensy, tiny pieces of felt I'd cut, along with various shears, pincushions, and threads? It also held the glass jars with dowels in them, the little lid full of wooden beads for making tiny dolls, the two boxes of embroidery thread, the fabric bowl full of specialty threads, all my felt, and a whole-big-bunch of loose and very small paper patterns. Well, it was shoved up so close to the sofa that I had to move it back a few inches to be able to replace the throw.

The thing about that table is...well...I never could get that second leg brace in place properly when I set it up. This morning when I scooted it, the legs on that end collapsed. It is fun to watch children slide down a slide at the playground. It was not so much fun to watch every single thing on that table slide down to one end and then off onto the floor this morning.

12/09/2012

Remember those almost-free festive chair decorations I was working on Friday?

They were for the dinner party we had last night.

So....

Yesterday morning I finished making the almost-free centerpiece for the table.

It had the same elements as the chair decor: little pinecones picked up by my good friend, big pinecones picked up on a walk by moi to the local drug store, boughs lopped from the bottom of Chrismas trees and free-for-the-taking from Home Depot, and (larger) paper stars made from the pages of an old hymnal.

It was lovely last night, with just the candle light and the twinking lights in the centerpiece and nearby Christmas tree.

Every year I ask God for inspiration for the decorations for this little dinner party, and He always answers my prayers.

I like to use a handmade ornament, representative of each year's decor theme, as both place marker and take-home favor.

So, yesterday morning found me pulling things out of my Christmas craft box and experimenting at the kitchen counter while the white chocolate mousse was chilling in prep for whipping into dessert.

I found a bundle (just enough pieces!!) of wired greenery stems in the stash and thought I would make some little wreaths.

This is what I started with:

The iPad in the background isn't essential equipment, but it was wonderful to listen to some LifeChurch TV sermons while I worked.

I made a slew of little paper stars to start off with.

I threaded some stars onto the surgical wire (cast offs from the clinic where I work) and formed it into a wreath.

I put dots of glitter glue at each side of the stars to hold them in place...

...because I was too lazy to mess with other glues thought I would put this little wreath inside a wreath made from one of the wired greenery stems...

...and then hang a pine cone in the center and put a bow at the top.

But.

It was really too big and I didn't care for the way it looked ("...like a Cadillac emblem", according to The Prince).

Experiment #2 was more to size and taste.

I just wrapped the wired greenery around the starred wreath.

With a pine cone in the center and a little bow and name banner at the top, it made the cut for the finished ornament favor/place marker.

It was the last decorative detail, fallen into place just in time.

By 6:30, all the candles were lit, the twinkle lights were on, the music was playing, the fresh bread was out of the oven, the beautiful lasagna (The Prince made it this year!) was in the oven, dessert was in the refrigerator, the salad was tossed and the wine was uncorked.

The guests arrived.

We began to talk, to laugh, to pray, to eat.

We were having a wonderful time at this table.

But see that little round ornament hanging from the chandelier?

It has a story to tell.

It was made Friday during a play-time meeting of my D'Art group.

I contemplated making six of them to use as this year's favors, but decided they were too big.

So, I just hung that little ol' single bulb from the chandelier.

And, sometime between the main course and dessert, I looked up and noticed it wasn't looking too round any more.

We had used clear plastic bulbs for this ornament.

We had used real candles, with real fire burning the wicks, on this table.

I found her at the kitchen table, in the midst of all this visiting family, sewing (!) lace to one of the back pockets on a pair of her jeans. (Oh my goodness!! Oh my goodness! I have a daughter who is sewing! Someone pinch me! Am I dreaming?)